If someone offered you portable chocolate that could instantly be spread on bread, fruit, crackers and pastries, how could you refuse? Thus began my love affair with Nutella, a European spread made of hazelnut butter and cocoa.

During my days at NYU, I was at a make-your-own sandwich bar when I first tried Nutella with French bread. What a revelation! The chocolate oozed out of the nooks and crannies, while the spread’s smoothness contrasted the bread’s crust. I then saw that bagels were an excellent vehicle for Nutella. So were pretzels. And bananas. And gummy bears.

Fascinated by this new condiment, I bought myself a jar and finished it in one week. I’ve never met any food that does not taste better with a dollop of Nutella. Sometimes the best way to enjoy Nutella is to take a spoonful and just plop it in your mouth.

According to Ferrero’s website, Nutella was created in the 1940s in the midst of a chocolate shortage. Pietro Ferrero, a pastry maker, stretched chocolate by thinning it out with ground hazelnuts. It became so popular that it’s as ubiquitous in Europe as peanut butter is in the U.S. If you ignore the high sugar content, Nutella actually has a nutritional profile similar to peanut butter. Its fat comes from the nuts, not the chocolate (Nutella gets its flavor from cocoa solids rather than cocoa butter). True, nuts are high in fat. But if you’re going to be eating fat, it might as well come from nuts rather than steaks.

According to Mort Rosenblum’s Chocolate: A Bittersweet Saga of Dark and Light, a 13-ounce jar of Nutella contains 50 (2/3 cup) hazelnuts, 1 1/2 cups skim milk, “enough cocoa to make it brown, and a lot of sugar.” As much as I love Nutella, today’s commercial version is actually sugar that’s flavored with hazelnuts and cocoa. You can tell because sugar is first in the ingredient list. And there’s lots of added oil to make it spreadable.

The version that I make at home is truly chocolate-flavored hazelnut butter: I use 2 cups of hazelnuts rather than Ferrero’s puny 2/3 cup. This recipe is the same that I’ve sent out in Blogging by Mail and that Nic (of The Baking Sheet) used for her Nutella biscotti.

If you love this original recipe and repost it, please credit this site. Technically, recipes aren’t copyrightable, but the L.A. Times posted an eerily similar version.

Update: For an even richer version, try the second formula, which has caramel powder and no added oil. Unless you have a professional nut grinder, it won’t be as smooth as commercial Nutella, but the flavor more than makes up for it.

Preheat oven to 350° F. Place hazelnuts in a single layer on a shallow baking pan. Toast until the skins are almost black and the meat is dark brown, about 15 minutes. Stir the nuts halfway through baking to ensure an even color.

To get rid of the bitter skins, wrap the cooled hazelnuts in a clean kitchen towel or paper towel. Rub until most of the skins come off, but don’t worry if some remain.

Process nuts in a food processor, scraping down the sides of the bowl occasionally, until they have liquefied, about 5 minutes. First, you will get coarsely chopped nuts, then a fine meal. After a little while, the nuts will form a ball around the blade, and it will seem like you only have a solid mass. Keep processing. The heat and friction will extract the natural oils, and you will get hazelnut butter!

When the nuts have liquified, add the sugar, cocoa and vanilla. Slowly drizzle in enough oil to make a spreadable consistency. Since the mixture is warm, it will be more fluid now than at room temperature.

Transfer the spread to an airtight container, and store in the refrigerator for 1-2 months. For best results, stir the chocolate-hazelnut spread before using.

Variations: To make any standard nut butter, use this procedure but omit the powdered sugar, cocoa, vanilla and extra oil. Add 1/2 tsp salt and up to 2 tbsp granulated sugar. Try making your own cashew butter: you may never go back to peanut butter again!

Chocolate-Hazelnut Spread (caramel base)

While this version requires a little more work, it has a richer, more sophisticated flavor.

Make the caramel: Combine the sugar and water in a 3- to 4-cup saucepan. To prevent crystallization, don’t stir it again during the cooking. Cover and bring the mixture to a simmer over medium heat. Remove the lid and wipe down the sides of the pan with a wet pastry brush or a scrunched up paper towel dipped in water. Cover and cook for 2 minutes, or until the sugar’s completely dissolved. Uncover and cook until the syrup looks like pale amber maple syrup. If your pan’s dark and you can’t gauge the color of the syrup, spoon a drop or two onto a white saucer. Swirl the pan gently, continuing to cook and test the color until the syrup turns medium amber.

Immediately pour the caramel onto the lined baking sheet. Tilt the sheet to spread the caramel as thinly as possible. Let harden completely, about 15 minutes.

Toast the nuts: Meanwhile, place the hazelnuts in a single layer on another baking sheet. Toast in the oven until the skins are almost black and the meat is dark brown, about 15 minutes. Stir the nuts halfway through baking to ensure an even color.

To get rid of the bitter skins, wrap the cooled hazelnuts in a clean kitchen towel or paper towel. Rub until most of the skins come off, but don’t worry if some remain.

Make the hazelnut butter: When the caramel is completely cool, break it into small pieces and pulverize in a food processor. Try to get the caramel as fine as possible at this stage (it won’t get finer once you add the nuts).

Add the nuts and process until they have liquefied, about 5 minutes. Scrape down the sides of the bowl occasionally. Be patient; the nuts will go from a fine meal, to forming a ball around the blade, to nut butter. Add the cocoa, vanilla and salt and process until smooth.

Transfer the spread to an airtight container, and store in the refrigerator for 1-2 months. For best results, stir the chocolate-hazelnut spread before using.

Notes:

Please use whole raw nuts, and toast them yourself to intensify the flavor. Pre-toasted or pre-chopped nuts are often spoiled.

To further intensify the nut flavor, use unrefined nut oil (for version 1), which is tan in color. Peanut oil is especially cheap in Chinese supermarkets: 20 ounces for $2.38! So if you’re looking for a “gourmet” ingredient, try an ethnic market.

You really need a full-sized food processor to make nut butter, not a mini version or a blender. I recommend a 7-cup Cuisinart: it’s large enough for most household tasks but isn’t too bulky.

Oh, I’m so glad that you are finally sharing the recipe, Jessica! Several people have asked me for it recently, and now I know just where to point them.
And, as someone who has tasted Jessica’s nutella, it’s amazing! Try the recipe!

Mila Tan said,

I saw your post about LA desserts and then did a read through your archives, am glad I did. I love Nutella, I also add it to my oatmeal and it makes a wicked chocolate-nut oatmeal, no need to add milk or sugar to the bowl. Yum.

Hi Mila,
I love Nutella in oatmeal too! I also add sliced banana on top. It smells just like banana bread when it’s cooking in the microwave. Then I slather on Nutella and mash it with the banana while still hot. I feel healthier because I don’t add any sugar either.

katrina said,

hey i love your site…. im obsessed with both baking and eating healthy and occasionally try to combine the two but it doesnt always work… but the recipes on ur site look soo yummy and awsome…. i just finnished making this like 5 minutes ago and about half is gone already … oops!!! lol its AMAZING…. i made half a batch b/c only had 1 c hazelnuts… i only added 1/3 c powdered sugar and still think its a lil too sweet for me but its AMAZING….. if you continue processing it enough you dont really need to add oil at the end i only added about 1 tsp…. your amazing for coming up with this recipe

Laura said,

Ida Therese Jablanovec said,

Hi Su,

For Thanksgiving this year, 2006, I made it with Nutella! It was wonderful! I called it my “Demonic Dream Pie.” My family tried it and their eyes lit up and sparkled! I didn’t tell them I used Nutella.

paul said,

i don’t like anything…ever…okay, maybe not that extreme but trying to give context to this post.

i had bought some roasted hazelnuts bulk and was wondering what to do with them all when i thought i might try to make nutella. there are quite a few recipes on the web but i tired this as the ingredients seemed the most logical.

UN. BE. LIEV. A. BLE. it’s that good. it’s that easy. it’s that fast.

process it long enough and i challenge anyone to choose the name brand over this recipe.

i’m thinking of having a go at adding a wee dram of lecithin to keep it from separating but then again i’ll probably never get around to that experiment!

Maria said,

This recipe is so good! I had some left over hazelnuts,and I only made half a batch, but it is SO GOOD! It took me 2 minutes to google the words Homemade Nutella and to decide on a recipe, and another 10 to make the thing! It is sitting in the fridge now,and I am licking my fingers…SO GOOD and more genuine than the actual Nutella, since you can feel the nuts and play with the cocoa dose!

Aequitas said,

I’m a bit nutella fan but it’s just too nice. Dangerously nice. It’s one of those things you can actually hide in the kitchen eating with a spoon from out of the jar.
It’s good on bread, toast, crackers, pancakes, waffles, and the spoon.

So nice to find another Nutella fan! I dip everything and anything in it. I recently baked a banana bread and smeared Nutella on top of it. There are pictures on my blog. Check it out if you have the time. Best

Should you ever get a chance to go to Germany do try their nutella, it tastes even more like hazelnuts because they don’t put peanut oil in it. I’ll be spending the entire month of October in Germany. Do you want me to bring you a jar, since you seem to be a great fan? You can compare for yourself. 🙂

Ute, thanks for the offer ha ha, but I’ll just keep making my Nutella at home. I did buy an extra large jar from France though. It’s so much better there because it’s less cloyingly sweet and there’s no hydrogenated oils.

Lauren, it does taste more authentic with milk powder (I think I used 1/3 cup), but I don’t always have it around.

One time I tried to make it “sugar” free by adding date paste (I ground up some dates and added a tablespoon or two of water to make it spreadable.) The mixture immediately seized. I had a really hard chocolaty blob and oil leaking out from the bottom. I think the small addition of water ruined it. Adding cream would probably do the same thing, but let me know what happens if you try it.

Lauren said,

Good advice, Jessica. I’ll look for some powdered cream to stir in instead. Hopefully with hazelnut oil, erythritol, Lo Han Guo, Stevia, and Splenda it’ll turn out tasty and low carb! Thanks so much for this recipe.

I’ve been waiting soooo long for my Nutella fix since cutting back on carbs. Will let you know how it turns out! 🙂

Emily said,

Hi,
I’m going to make this recipe (I made one last night that I found on allrecipes, but it’s not “the one”). I always keep powdered milk at my house, so if I use it in the recipe, is it another addition, or does it take the place of something else… would I just use the powder by itself or mix it with a liquid? Thanks so much.
Emily

Emily, I’ve added about 1/3 cup of powdered milk with the cocoa and sugar before. Sometimes I don’t have it around (since I use fresh milk for everything else), so I left it off the recipe. It makes the vegans/lactose intolerant people happy, too.

Dani said,

OOO im excited to try this out.I love nutella but ive heard how sugary and bad for u it is even tho it is good for u a little bit.My friend makes it homemade and so now im excited to ba able to do it myself!Thanks and ill definatly be back for more recipeis

Ella said,

hehe well i just made these (or in the process of making) and like me, just had to make a mistake along the way……i didnt take off the shells. It didnt ruin the recipe i just relized that since the shells still wernt turning black after 30mins something was wrong lol. So a warning/remindewr to all of those clumsies like me SHELL BEFORE ! Thnks great recipe anyways !

Emma said,

Oh wow! My husband and I made a decision last year to only eat fairtrade chocolate/cocoa products, which meant of course that nutella was off the shopping list. My mum has sent me a couple of jars of Green & Black’s chocolate hazelnut spread from the UK, but it’s not exactly an optimal solution. So exciting to see that I can now make my own!

Sarah said,

I have been waiting weeks for a fancy-schmancy new food processor that I got for Christmas just to make this recipe and IT WAS WORTH IT!!!! YUMMMMMM!!!
It’s extra great, too, because I have many small, picky eaters that don’t like meat and have only recently come around to peanut butter and I need to get some protein in them! They love Nutella, but the commercial stuff has less protein in it than peanut butter.

Jeff said,

Since reading your post I’ve become totally preoccupied with making perfect homemade nutella, and last night I made 2 attempts — both caramel-based. The second time I pulverized the caramel into powder using my spice grinder, but in both cases, the nutella was really gritty. The crunchy flecks may have come from the caramel, but I get the feeling I may have stopped processing the hazelnuts too soon. When you say “liquify” do you mean they become totally smooth, like smooth peanut butter or commercial nutella? Any hits? Should I try powdered sugar instead?

Jeff said,

Sorry if this is a double-post – not sure if my last one got through! Anyway I’m looking for advice on how to to make really smooth nutella. I’ve tried twice and I’m getting a delicious but seriously gritty version. I pulverize the caramel powder in my spice grinder and process the hazelnuts until it looks more or less like peanut butter, but there are still crunchy bits. Am I not processing long enough? Does it ever become as smooth as commercial nutella?

Jeff,
You pulverize the caramel in your spice grinder? That must take a while, since spice grinders are small. I just throw it in the food processor. How crunchy is your butter? Mine resembles natural-style peanut butter. At home, you can’t get it as smooth as commercial Nutella, because they use very strong nut grinders.

Absinthe said,

Wandered over here in a bit of web-indipity and found your homemade nutella recipe. I made it last night using Green & Black’s cocoa powder and it is one of the most delicious things I’ve ever eaten–better than the storebought version because it’s not cloyingly sweet. I have a pretty powerful food processor and this turned out very, very smooth–far creamier than I thought it would. I also didn’t need to add oil, rather surprisingly.
Thanks for generously posting this recipe.

Absinthe said,

Hi, Jessica.

It’s not industrial, lol, just a Cuisinart 14 cup one, but it’s a vast improvement over my old one. I just processed the heck out of the hazelnuts and then again after adding the cocoa powder & sugar. It ended up a little smoother than the natural peanut butter I buy. I love my food processor and will miss it when it goes into storage this summer when we move to Europe for a while. Thanks again for the recipe, and I’m really enjoying poking around your blog.

I used the caramel based version as a cake filling last weekend. With limited time, I almost gave in and bought a jar of nutella to fill it, but I just couldn’t bring myself to do it. Shortcuts that involve processed, already made foods, a la Sandra Lee, is simply out of the question when it comes to my baking and/or cooking.

Anyway, I remembered you had posted a nutella recipe, and I used the caramel based nutella to fill my cake. WOW, to say people flipped over it, is actually an understatement. Thank you so much for researching, testing and posting this recipe! I love being able to offer people the option of a homemade nutella filling, whether it be in cookies, cakes, bars, pastries,tartlets, tarts, et al..(the leftover for ME to eat with a spoon..lol)

Naturally, you get full credit when asked for the recipe and where it can be found. ;D Thanks again!

Mae said,

Hi; I found this recipe on the web and am very excited to try it! I have a jar of half-eaten Nutella in the cabinet right now, but I do feel badly about all the hydrogenated oils it contains and was hoping to find a way to make it myself. Wowsers, to say that I’m excited about trying your recipe is an understatement! However, I lament that I do not have a food processor; just a rather cheapster blender. Do you think it will still blend hazelnuts? Thanks a ton!!

Mae, I learned the hard way, a blender does not work. It will jam every five seconds, and it’ll grind the nuts into pebbles. Sorry. But another reader here got a food processor just for this recipe, and she though it was worth it.

Mae said,

Hi Jessica; thank you for the words of wisdom regarding the blender. I tried it this weekend anyway because I was curious. I used store-bought pre-roasted cashews, since hazelnuts are not in season here and I couldn’t find them anywhere. I crushed them in ziplock baggies with a hammer prior to blending them; got them pretty well pulverized that way. The blending took a long time; I had to stop every few seconds to scrape down the nuts, and had to add a good drizzle of peanut oil to the mix to keep things moving. The blender did eventually mostly liquefy the nuts; there were a few chunks that just wouldn’t blend but I counted myself lucky I got that far. (this process took me about an hour, by the way…just to get the nuts done!) Then there was more time on top of that to mix everything else in, and I had to change the ratios of the other ingredients to make up for the fact that I wasn’t using hazelnuts. The chocolate cashew-butter turned out to be good, it’s pretty salty since I got pre-roasted nuts, but I prefer the “hazelnutty” taste of nutella. I will try this again in the fall when I can find some. Thanks for the recipe!

we have dairy allergies in our house, which means that mommy has to give up some of her favorite foods… but one of the ones that made me the saddest was nutella. i can’t wait to go get me some hazelnuts to roast!!

Ethipos said,

I am going to make this recipe as soon as the new lid for my cuisinart comes (it won’t work without it). I can’t wait!!! I was wondering if anyone has tried it with honey instead of sugar? I’m trying to stay away from refined sugars and use local products at the same time. Thank You!

Suzie in DC said,

Tried this for the very first time. It turned out very good but I didn’t have a food processor, so I used my coffee grinder instead and did it in small batches. I think I should have ground the nuts a little more to totally liquify. I Removed them from the grinder when they were an oily crumbly mixture (like when your peanut butter drys out a little on the bottom of the jar) which may have been a mistake, because I had to add more oil to get the rest of the dry ingredients to mix properly. Mine is drier than what your photo shows and less creamy and drier than Nutella . It is still a nice paste and spreads well though. I also used a little less sugar . Thank you for the recipe. It was fun trying and if I ever get a food processor I will certainly know what to use it for.

Elan said,

Mae said,

I’m back!!! I made this with store-bought cashews during the summer with a blender, and it was good for what it was, but it wasn’t THIS recipe exactly. So when I found hazelnuts in the stores, I snatched a bag and tried it again. I wanted to add that getting the skins off the hazelnuts was very challenging; many didn’t flake away when I rubbed them. I did some research and discovered that boiling the nuts before toasting them in hot water with 4 tablespoons of baking soda (for about 3 minutes) helps the skins to just slip right off. I tried this with some extra nuts and it did the trick. Just wanted to mention that for others having trouble “skinning” the nuts. One bag of Diamond brand whole hazelnuts made exactly 1 cup of shelled, toasted nuts, so I halved the recipe. After they were toasted and skinned I pulverized them in plastic baggies with a hammer. I put the nut “meal” in the blender. It takes about a 1/2 hour to patiently blend nuts this way…stopping every few seconds to stir. They will eventually mostly liquefy…there will still be a fine meal dispersed throughout the mix but this doesn’t bother me. I added a bit more cocoa and more sugar to the mix, plus some dry milk, and it turned out very nice. My husband said it was “very hazelnutty” and didn’t like that it wasn’t sickeningly sweet…he wanted more sugar in it, haha. Said it tasted too “expensive.” I laughed. I think Su’s version is very sophisticated, very authentic…chocolate flavored hazelnut butter, like she said, not simply hazelnut flavored sugary hydrogenated oils, like store nutella. It has a richness and full flavor that allows you to use it sparingly. Love this recipe, thanks for sharing Su!

mae said,

Elan said,

Hello i have tried both of these. I definitely think the easy version is much nicer. didn’t like the texture of the caramel based nuttella and it had a slightly bitter after taste. However the first basic one is amazing!

landemay said,

Hi Su Good Sweets… last night I made the first jar of my homemade nutella, thanks to you!!! 😀 It was heavenly… I posted it on my fb and put the link to your recipe… I just have one question: Does it need to be put in the fridge? the store bought one, usually, I keep it away from the fridge. ^.^ thanks!

Diana said,

I made this recipe this morning. It’s soooooo good! I let the nuts cool a little after roasting them (cool enough that I could touch them with my hands), and then the skins came off a bit easier.

I also used a champion juicer to make the nut butter, and then added everything else and stirred by hand. I used organic whole cane syrup (molasses and all) instead of sugar. It’s DE-licious! Thank you for the recipe! I think I know what I’m going to make people for Christmas 🙂

Nutellerific said,

Just a quick tip – if you use dry roasted hazelnuts, you don’t even need to add any vegetable oil, the nuts will release their own oil during the blending. The reason the recipe above adds oil is because the nuts were raw. So you could literally make nutella-like goodness with only hazelnut butter (pureed roasted hazelnuts) and then equal parts unsweetened cocoa and sugar to taste.

Helen McGuire said,

Hi, I am going to make your recipe today for the first time. My friend, Susie loves the manufactured version of this. I will make it for her as she is such a good friend and is always doing nice things for me. I can’t wait to see how she likes it. I will make a double batch, so we both can enjoy it. Thanks for the recipe!

Caroline said,

So I just made this vegan nutella today! I used the first recipe. It was my good friend’s birthday. She has been vegan for over 5 years and recently mentioned how much she used to love nutella. I thought it would make a great birthday gift.

It was sooo difficult. I opted to boil the hazelnuts with some baking soda to remove the skins prior to roasting. I read that trying to deskin them the other way was miserable. The skins came right off after boiling. While it was a little labor intensive separating the skins from the nuts, I would imagine it was easier than the other way.

I doubled the recipe but I had two small food processors. I over packed them, which meant my nuts never got liquidy. Note to future nutella makers: don’t overpack food processor! Food processor 1 got tired and broke, but food processor 2 was a trooper. I nearly gave up, but figured I’d let it go 2 more minutes with a small batch. VoilÃ¡! I got hazelnut butter. Maybe this is obvious to those experienced with food processors, but I am new to the game.

As a beginner with this sort of cooking/baking and with a few hitches along the way, it took me 2.5 hours to make 3 cups of nutella. I ended up with a kitchen sprayed with hazelnut skins, powdered sugar and finely chopped nuts.

But in the end, all was well. I would give the Nutella 3.5 stars. My friend tasted it immediately and seemed very enthusiastic, I would guess she would give it about 4 or 5 stars. My grandma loved it too. Either theyre humoring me – or I’m too hard on myself.

Anyway, thank you for the great recipe! I hope my errors help future nutella makers!

Lori said,

I’m going to try to make Nutella in a few minutes. I’ll use your recipe as a jumping off point. I want to use it to spread inside pizzelles before folding them into fourths. Instead of cocoa I’m going to use melted unsweetened chocolate, powdered sugar, heavy cream, and vanilla. I like the idea of the cocoa butter in the chocolate vs. the nut oil you are using. Your recipe does not have any milk in it. I think milk is a pretty significant part of the taste of nutella. I’ll let you know how it turns out. I remember when I was a French pastry chef in the late 70’s we used to use a product called noisena, which is hazelnut butter mixed with sugar. Lordy was that stuff good!

lizzy henry said,

i just made this 5 minutes ago, DELICIOUS! the only complaint i have is skinning the hazelnuts, but that says nothing about your recipe. this recipe is fantastic! thank you so much for sharing. i used all 1/4 cup of the oil, and i added a little bit of salt because it brings out the chocolate a little bit more. other than that i followed it to a T. also, thank you so much for putting the "keep processing" part. about a minute into processing the nuts i was was thinking "if this doesn’t liquify i might just kill it!" and it eventually did.

randa said,

Randa, you could probably use stevia or Splenda in the regular version, but significantly less, and it will alter the texture. I don’t think it’d work in the caramel version though. Coconut oil or cocoa butter probably won’t work, because they’re almost solid at room temp (and will make the choc hazelnut butter too stiff). Also, I have a 7-cup Cuisinart food processor. Have fun!

Natalia said,

This is a great recipe, thank you. I like the dark cocoa powder versus the regular in the recipe, it gives it a nice bitter hit. I also have used a couple tablespoons of soymilk to reduce the oil and I have not had any problems with seizing, and I like the added flavor it gives.

I made mine with some pecan butter I had made earlier in the year! I adjusted the recipe because I only had 1/4 cup of this pecan butter and added tablespoon of powdered sugar and 1/2 tablespoon of cocoa powder! Because the pecans were very oily I didn’t have to add oil. I put it on some rice crackers and then added some more pecan halves that I normally do with Nutella, my husband calls it tilling b/c I arrange them like tiles! It was delicious! Much better than the original! I’ll have to make a full batch next time!
Thank you!
Megan

Seaandra said,

Thank you for this recipe!! Unfortunately, hazelnuts were out of season, and I couldn’t find them ANYWHERE, but I used cashews instead. It still turned out GREAT! I still added the cocoa, because I wanted the chocolate flavor. I’m on a low-carb diet, so I used Splenda instead, I simply turned the Splenda into powder before adding it. I did the whole thing with my magic bullet (gift from my mom, totally love it!) I used the coffee grinding blade for the Splenda (took about 10 seconds), and the regular chopping blade for the rest. I only had to scrape once, because since I used the magic bullet, I could shake the contents around and mix it well. The whole process took less than 10 minutes, and the end product was very smooth. I even took a picture and posted it on my facebook 🙂

I can’t wait till the holidays and try the sugar-free version with actual hazelnuts. YUM!!! Thanks SO much!!

Carla said,

Hi Jess,

So I just made this with my flatmate-we’re both students in London.

It is amazing! We thought it was too good for toast so, there is a waffle shop just down the road from us and we spread this on the waffles, chopped up some banana and poured some left over cream on top.

I want to say thanks for putting this up on the web.

Also I hope I am not repeating but, get the skins off by boiling them in water and then rubbing them with a tea towel. Then put them in the oven like that and just make sure they don’t burn!

Carlyn said,

Just made this. SO GOOD. Skinning the hazelnuts was very hard and I ended up having to leave more than half of them with their skins on because I wasn’t getting anywhere. Luckily I didn’t experience much of a bitter taste at all. Also, since I was aiming for a healthier version of nutella I cut the sugar in half. That gave it the PERFECT amount of sweetness and let the other flavors really shine through. This tastes great on just about anything you can imagine. Oh, I also used coconut oil and though you can’t taste any coconut, it really rounds out the chocolate flavor. I’ve kept mine in the pantry and haven’t experienced much of any separation. Next time I think I would add 1/2 teaspoon of salt. This is seriously the BEST, thanks!!

Edna Grace said,

I am soooo happy I’ve found this! I love Nutella, but I’ve stopped eating it because I am terribly allergic to palm oil, which is in not only the original Nutella, but many of the other copy-cat choc-hazelnut spreads out there. I cannot wait to make this…I’ve missed it so much! Thanks for sharing!

Miri Douglas said,

4got to ask 4 an email follow up…so here is my question again.
my wee one is alergic to hazel & brazil nuts.what other nuts can i use in this recepie?can’t wait to try it.he’ld finally b able 2 get some choc in his tummy…

Mickie said,

I sure am late in the game commenting on this recipe from years ago, but I see I’m not the only one! I liked the taste of Nutella but always found it way to sweet, not to mention the hydrogenated oils. I tried Justin’s Nut Butter brand chocolate hazelnut spread, which is fantastic but really expensive (about $10 per jar, whereas Nutella is about $3.50-yikes!). Now that I have tried this recipe I can tell you I’m never buying either Nutella or Justin’s again. I used only 3/4 cup of sugar, and will probably use only 1/2 a cup next time. I am so glad I came across this recipe, I’ll have to try some of your other ones! 🙂

Pam said,

I am so glad to get this recipe. I lived in Germany and fell in lust with Nutella. I was so disappointed when I moved back to the States and tasted the Nutella here- all that I could taste was the sugar.

Now if I could find a recipe for the cappuccino spread the I found in The Netherlands, I will be totally fat and happy.

Tracy said,

Tracy, Nutella used to contain partially hydrogenated oil; it was switched out for palm oil because nutrition labels had to list the amount of trans fats in foods. Palm oil is still high in saturated fat though, and rainforests are typically burned down to process it. (See http://www.cspinet.org/palm/PalmOilReport.pdf) So either way, Nutella’s not the best option, though I enjoy [the idea of] it.

Emma said,

My six year old is a fruit-and-veg-ophobe, mildly dairy allergic and seriously obsessed with all things chocolatey. He’s also VERY good about all the treats he misses out on for the sake of his eczema. I could never be so grown up and I try hard to make sure he has alternatives he can dip into when everyone else has a treat. So finding this recipe was very exciting and I made it late last night.

However, I made a number of minor errors which affected the final product:
1. I burnt the caramel just a little and it was just too late at night to start over, so I risked it. This led to a slightly more bitter taste than I had hoped.
2. I made it at the same time as my husband was making jerky. This led to a steamy environment which made my caramel sticky and hard to grind, leading to a curious (though not entirely unpleasant) ground glass style crunch.
3. I missed out the vanilla because I couldn’t find it. I’m guessing it adds a little more depth to the sweetness.

But it really was very good. Much more hazelnutty than nutella, which I find far too sweet. However, I did find it far more runny than I had hoped, despite adding no oil or liquid of any sort. Perhaps they were especially oily nuts? Is there such a thing.

One suggestion though, not sure if anyone else has made it in the gazillion comments I’ve not read. The skins can be easily removed from RAW nuts by pouring boiling water on them and leaving them to sit for a few minutes. The skins go baggy and fall off. I guess you’d have to leave the nuts to dry out for a bit in order to get a nice roast on them though.

Allergy-boy-fussy-pants tried it in a sandwich this evening and seemed to enjoy it. And I felt like a very good mother to be feeding my child all those healthy hazelnuts and nutritionally beneficial cocoa that I managed to completely forget the sugar.

Cyn said,

Lachlan said,

I’m in the process of making this recipe at the moment (just waiting on a pick up of cocoa from one of my minions), and I’ve stumbled upon quite the lovely biproduct! It seemed a shame to waste all those wonderful, aromatic skins, so the tea fanatic in me decided to give them a shot with my infuser. Sure enough, after brewing a heaped teaspoon in a mug of boiling water for five or so minutes and adding a couple teaspoons of sugar and a dash of soy milk, they’ve produced quite the tasty, light herbal tea! It’s absolutely delicious and I’d recommend giving it a shot next time you make this recipe if you’re at all tea-inclined.

SAOplanner said,

Thanks for posting this recipe. I was trying out a version from the ABC show “The Chew” and it had so many gaps of info that I searched the internet for answers and found yours. Made both and yours came out great! Put it in a pretty jar and gave it as a Christmas stocking gift. Wonderful detail on the tips, so thank you!

Sangita said,

Hi,I was glad to see the choclate spread recipe at the website.The place where i live i dont get hazlenuts.I wish to know
1.If i can use normal cooking butter instead of hazlenut butter.
2.Also can i add grounded almonds to this for a nuttier taste

nams said,

I just tried your recipe (with some modifications). It’s amazing. At every step I wondered if this would really turn into a delicious nutty chocolate spread. Before my eyes…it appeared. I will post your recipe on my blog with my modifications; I made almond chocolate spread. Thank you for posting this recipe!
Greetings from north of the Arctic Circle.
(The post should be up by tomorrow http://www.donachyblog.wordpress.com)

Hiwa said,

Thank you Jessica for this great recipe! I made the following changes to make it more ‘healthy’ and smoother:

– Used the smaller piece of the blender instead of a food processor.
– Replaced sugar with several dates (4-8 depending on your taste).
– Milk 1/4 cup (either liquid or tsp powder with 1/4 cup water).
– Put everything together in one batch and blend till very smooth, same as original Nutella!

This sounds delicious! My daughter and I both love Nutella, though I didn’t buy it for years because of the hydrogenated fats. They finally changed their recipe some years ago.

Also, about copyrighting recipes: you are partly right. The *ingredients* of a recipe (how much, and what) are not copyrightable. However, you *can* copyright your description of how to put those ingredients together. According to the U.S. Copyright Office, “Copyright protection may, however, extend to substantial literary expression—a description, explanation, or illustration, for example—that accompanies a recipe or formula or to a combination of recipes, as in a cookbook.” For more information, see this page at the U.S. Copyright Office: http://www.copyright.gov/fls/fl122.html

My understanding, therefore, is that if someone copies your recipe verbatim, they are violating your copyright. If they take your exact list of ingredients but come up with their own description of how to put the recipe together, as long as that description is sufficiently different from yours, they have not violated your copyright, though an acknowledgment (“adapted from a recipe by …”) is always courteous and the right thing to do.

Kelly Lynn said,

Jeanette said,

I am so glad I found this recipe. It is just what I have been looking for.
I have loved Nutella for many years but stopped buying it when I discovered that the product made in Canada (and I believe the US) contains palm oil. I have stopped buying many products because of they contain palm oil.

Last week-end I purchased a hazelnut-chocolate spread at the health food store; however, it is not very spreadable. So I went to the computer and lo and behold there are so many recipes for hazelnut-chocolate spread, and I think I will try yours–both of them. I think I will use date sugar instead of the powdered sugar. Both versions sound delicious and healthful.

Karla said,

Hi!
I am (almost) ready to make it…but I didn’t find whole hazelnuts and bought hazelnuts meal (flour) instead at Central Market. Have you tried with that? I am not sure if it is roasted, though… Another question is I do not have a food processor but a regular blender. Any tips working with that? Can’t wait! Oh I will fill french macarons with that (first time making those too!!.
Wish me luck!

Zalia said,

Just tried the recipe. It’s not quite at Nutella level but will try again. I found the hazelnut almost too strong coming through so might try to roast them a bit shorter, maybe it needs roaring shorter for hazelnuts without skins? Ideally I would like more of a chocolaty flavour then roasted hazelnut. I added quite a bit more cocoa and sugar but hazelnut flavour didn’t really tone down much. It’s cool to see the nuts liquefy though!

Zalia said,

Right, I’ve tried the recipe twice more, to make as a present for Nutella lovers. First time I soaked the nuts for a few hours so I could put it through my juicer and not break it, as well as I’ve heard nuts are easier digestible when soaked. I them boiled them for a couple of minutes with 3 tablespoons of baking soda, this got the skins of very easily.

However… I put them through my juicer (VitalMax) with mincing shield, and decided that the machine was probably never going to give an liquid result, so continued with kitchen processor. Half an hour in they were still not liquefying in processor, so soaking or perhaps the boiling did something to the nuts that just doesn’t make it work. Taste was fine but all a bit gritty.

This morning I tried again, roasted nuts for 10 minutes, let them cool and processed them e voila, the nuts liquefied in just a couple of minutes, yey! It came perfect, didn’t even have to add oil, so hard to now have to give it away!

Think it’s time to buy hazelnuts in bulk now 😉 Thanks again for sharing the recipe.

@ Elizabeth: I read some other Nutella recipes that use hazelnut oil. I’ve used canola oil as it doesn’t taste very strong.

Thanks for sharing, Zalia. By soaking the nuts, you might have gotten rid of the oil that would’ve made for a creamier consistency. Everyone has their own preferences with hazelnut butter. I like the strong nuttiness, but if you don’t, easing off on toasting helps. Glad you found what you like.

Hi Miko, the powdered sugar is merely for texture. Granulated sugar will be gritty. I have a feeling that dates or honey may cause the mixture to separate because there’s so much oil in the nuts. When you say you don’t like the taste of powdered sugar, do you mean the taste of white sugar? Powdered sugar is finely ground granulated sugar with a little cornstarch to prevent caking. You could also try alternative dry sweeteners like coconut sugar, but the texture won’t be as fine.

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